Girl power

Saturday 18 May, 2024
Among the thousand recovery vehicle drivers who remove wreckage and broken-down vehicles from roads in the Netherlands every day, there are two women: Nynce van de Ploeg (21) from Lelystad and Quinta Aarts (25) from Schiedam. A third female recovery vehicle driver is waiting in the wings. This is Sanne van Boven (27) from Ridderkerk. Sanne is currently at Logicx Berging, where she manages freight-forwarding operations. Once she has completed her vehicle recovery training later this year, she will also be starting work as a vehicle recovery operator.

Nynce van de Ploeg of Delta Berging (photos: Lotjefotografeert)

Nynce van der Ploeg trained to become a road-haulage driver. She works two days a week as a driver in her father's haulage company. Since 2020, she has spent the other three days working at Delta Berging, the IM recovery operator in the polders of Flevoland and the area around Harderwijk. At Delta, she followed training courses on vehicle recovery and breakdown assistance.

Quinta Aarts of Jan van de Graaf Jr.

Quinta Aarts is a certified truck mechanic. She started her working life as a mechanic at Iveco dealership Schouten, and ended up in the vehicle recovery world as a fleet manager at Vreugdenhil Berging, one of the larger IM recovery operators in the country. In 2022, she decided to make the move into the 'hands-on' side of vehicle recovery. She went to work for Jan de Graaf jr. in Rotterdam, where she obtained her LGV licence, and now works as an all-round recovery specialist.

The two ladies feel at home in the vehicle recovery world. IM recovery operators most frequently come to the assistance of drivers who urgently need their help, which makes vehicle recovery on the motorway 'rewarding work', as Nynce puts it. Asked if she has a message for the women of the Netherlands, Quinta says: 'Just do it. Make that step! We need more women!!!'